Air conditioning apparatus



June 28, 1938.

H. K. STEINFELD AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed June 1, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 28, 1938. H. K. STEINFELD 2,121,837

AIR CONDITIONING APPARATU Filed Jur le 1, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR H. K. STeIhfe/d Patented June28,1938

AIR CONDITIONING mm'ros Hans K. Steinield, Aldan, Pa assignor to Baldwin-Southwark Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Application June 1', 1936, Serial No. 82,857 '1 Claims. (c1. 62-129) This invention relates generally to air conditioning apparatus employing a refrigeration sys-' tern and relates particularly to a self-contained room cooler unit. It is an object of my invention to provide an improved construction and arrangement of elements whereby the unit is relatively simple and compact and is economical in con- "struction;' maintenance and operation. A fur- 'ther object is to provide an improved combination that is flexible in its application to self-contained as well as remote installations.

In one specific aspect of the invention the foregoing objects are'accomplished by providing an improved structure permitting a self-contained 1 heat exchange and air circulating sub-unit or sub-assembly to be bodily inserted or removed within a suitable compartment of the main unit while in a further specific aspect of the invention a plurality of identical sub-units of the foregoing'type are adapted to be used, one on the condenser side and the other on the evaporatorside;

A further object is to provide an improved arrangement between the condenser and evaporator units in combination with the main unit whereby effective and efficient circulation may be had of outside air over the condenser to cool the same and room air over the evaporator, this being accomplished with a. minimum number of walls,

partitions, or other friction producing surfaces or obstructions. a

As a result .of my improved construction, the

component parts of the'unit are adapted to have considerable flexibility of use. For instance, the

condenser and evaporator sub-units may be used in combination with a self-contained room cooler- Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken on, the line' 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1; a Pig. 4 is a perspective of one of the sub-units;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal vertical sectionsimilar to Fig. 1 showing a modified arrangement thereof.

In the particular embodiments of the invention which are disclosed herein merely for the purpose of illustrating certain specific forms among possible others-that the invention might take in practice, I have shown in Fig.1 a suitable sheet metal cabinet having end walls I, 2, bottom and top walls 3, 4 and front and back walls 5, 6. One of the heat exchange and air circulating sub-units, specifically for the evaporator side, comprises a sheet metal casing generally indicated at 1 whose lower portion is divided to provide a pair of fan scroll casings 8 and 9 between which an electric motor I0 is suitably supported by the under side of casing 1 to commonly operate a pair of blower rotors II and I2. Each of the blowers has inlets I3 and I4. A horizontally extending evaporator I5, preferably rectangular in plan view, is disposed within the upper portion of the air passage in casing I. This sub-unit has end walls 16a and I6b, front and back walls I6 and IM, and bottom and top walls I I and Ila, all spaced from the walls of the evaporator duct to provide a definite passage, self-contained within the sub-unit, leading to the blower inlets I3 and I4. Hence, this selfcontained sub-unit may be bodily insertedwithin a compartment having wall I at one end and an intermediate transverse supporting wall or partition I6 extending from base 3 to top 4. Suitable supporting angle irons I9, secured to thewalls of the main cabinet. I, I6, etc., are adapted to support said sub-unit. -If desired, the front and end walls I8a, I6 and I612. may be omitted, in which case the walls I, I6 and 5 function directly to provide a complete passage around the evaporator duct. In either case, however, a space or passage 26 is self-contained within the sub-unit, and arranged to surround the evaporator duct and blowers to provide a passage leading'to the inlets I3 and I4. This passage or space in turn communicates with the room air through a suitable grilled inlet 2| in the cabinet wall I while the evaporator passage of casing I communicates with a suitable discharge opening 22 in top 4. Thus it is seen that room air will beeifectively circulated through inlet 2|, space 20 and blowers II and I2 and thence over evaporator I5 to be discharged through opening 22 to the room.

An identical condenser and air circulating subunit is generally indicated at 23,-and hence the details of construction thereof 'need not be described. The parts of sub-unit 23 are given the same reference numbers as corresponding parts of the evaporator sub-unit except that the con- 24 above the condenser l5, Also the back wall l8 of the other sub-unit is spaced inwardly from back wall 6 to permit outside air to flow inwardly through a suitable window or other opening in a wall adjacent which the unit is located, thence through an opening 25 (Fig. 2) in back sheet 6 and downwardly through the rear passage 26 behind the evaporator unit, over a compressormotor unit 21 and thence into a space 20' from which the air flows into inlets l3 and II. An outside air outlet 29 is provided in back sheet 6 for communication with the window or other wall opening. The top wall Ila separates opening 28 from chamber 20'. Outside air is circulated upwardly by blowers II and I2 and thence over the condenser I5 and discharged back to the outside atmosphere through outlet 23. Usual piping connections between the compressor, con denser and evaporator as well as usual expansion valve mechanism, all of which is well known in the art and therefore not shown, comprise means whereby the heat exchangers form complementary elements of a refrigerating system.

It is seen that the foregoing arrangement of having the evaporator unit located in the upper portion of the room unit provides a very suitable compartment 3| for the motor-compressor mechanism 21 near the bottom of the unit. Also by having the condenser unit located near the bottom 3,' a very effective space is provided above the condenser to permit the outside air to be effectively turned and discharged through outlet 29 with minimum obstruction to the air flow.

While the two sub-units are ofiset relative to each other, yet they are identical and may be individually bodily inserted 'or removed within their respective compartments or if desired they may If desired, outside fresh air may be admitted to,

chamber 20 from passage 26 through a suitable opening 32 in wall l8, whereby the fresh outside air is circulated by room air blowers II and I2.

In the modification shown in Fig. 5, the evaporator unit and air circulating means generally indicated at 35' is identical in construction and arrangement as is disclosed in the preferred form. However, the condenser unit preferably includes only a single central blower generally indicated at 36 adapted to communicate with a flaring passageway or duct 31. The blower casing and duct 31 together with the condenser 38 comprises a self-contained unit'and is also set down near the bottom of the main unit so as. to permit a horizontal axismotor 39 to 'drive the blower rotor throughvany suitable shaft 40. A compressor 4| of any suitable type is also driven by said motor. The paths of air flow through the unit are identical as in the preferred form and the advantages of the two forms are the same except that in the modified form the condenser unit does not have the advantage of being a duplicate of the evaporator unit, although the arrangement permits a compact location of the compressor together with a simplified blower motor drive.

The cabinet of the main unit functions as a supporting framework and hence the term cabinet is broadly used herein to define any suitable framework for forming suitable compartments to receive the sub-units.

From the foregoing disclosures of the two modiflcations, it is seen that I have provided an extremely simple and compact arrangement that is adapted for economical manufacture, operation and maintenance as well as being adapted for the art ,without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

.I claim:

1. A room cooler unit comprising, in combination, a' cabinet having aplurality of compartments, self-contained heat exchange and blower sub-units adapted to be bodily inserted in said compartments, means whereby the heat exchangers of said sub-units comprise complementary elements of a refrigerating system, and means whereby room air is circulated over the heat exchange element of one of said sub-units and outside airis circulated over the heat exchange element' of the other sub-unit. 7

2. A room cooler unit comprising, in 'combination, a cabinet having a plurality of compartments, a self-contained heat exchange and blower sub-units of identical construction and adapted to be bodily inserted'in said compartments, means whereby the heat exchangers of said sub-units comprise complementary element's 'of a refrigerating system, and means whereby room airis circulated over the heat exchange element of one; of said sub-units and outside is circulated over the heat exchange element of the other sub-unit.

3. A room'cooler unit comprising,.in 'combina-' tion, a cabinet having a plurality of compartments, self-contained heat exchange and blower sub-units adapted to be bodily inserted in said compartments, meanswhereby the heat exchangers of said sub-units comprise complementary elements of a refrigerating system, means whereby room air is circulated over the heat exchange element of one of said sub-units and outside air is circulated over the heat exchange element of the other sub-unit, one of'said sub-units being elevated above the bottom of the cabinetto provide a bottom compartment, and motor-compressor mechanism located in said latter compartment.

4. A room cooler unit comprising, in combination, a cabinet having a plurality of compart ments, self-contained heat exchange and blower sub-units adapted to be bodily inserted in said compartments, means whereby the heat exchangers of said sub-units comprise complementary elements of a refrigerating system, means whereby room air is circulated over the heat exchange element of one of said sub-units and outside-air is circulated over the heat exchange element of the other sub-unit, one of saidsub-units being elevated above the bottom of the cabinet and to be circulated upwardly over the heat exchange element thereof and discharged to the outside.

5. A room cooler unit comprising, in combination, a cabinet having a plurality of compartments, self-contained heat exchange and blower sub-units adapted to be bodily inserted in said compartments, means whereby the heat exchangers of said sub-units comprise complementary elements of a refrigerating system, means whereby room air is circulated over the heat exchange element of one of said sub-units and outside air is circulated over the heat. exchange element of the other sub-unit, one of said sub-units being elevated above the bottom of the cabinet and the other sub-unit being located near the bottom thereof, means forming a passage for circulating outside air inwardly of said unit and down to the lower portion thereof and thence inwardly through a blower inlet of the lowermost sub-unit to be circulated upwardly over the heat exchange element thereof and discharged to the outside,-

and a compressor included in the refrigerating system with said complementary heat exchange elements located beneath the elevated sub-unit and laterally of the blower inlet of the other subunit.

6. A self-contained room cooler unit comprising, in combination, a cabinet having a compartment elevated from the bottom thereof, aselfcontained sub-unit having a refrigerant evaporator and room circulating means adapted to.

be inserted bodily into said elevated compartment, another self-contained sub-unit having a refrigerant condenser and an air circulating blower, said latter sub-unit being disposed in said cabinet with its blower adjacent the bottom of the cabinet, a compressor and motor for compressing and circulating the refrigerant in said condenser and evaporator, said compressor and motor being located beneath said elevated compartment and said motor also being adapted to commonly operate said compressor and blower.

7. A room cooler unit comprising, in combination, a cabinet having a compartment at one end extending upwardly from the bottom thereof and.

another compartment elevated above said bottom, means forming an outside air passage behind said compartments, self-contained heat exchange and air circulating sub-units located within each of said compartments, said heat exchange elements in the respective sub-units being complementary to each other in a refrigerating system, motor-compressor mechanism included in the refrigerating cycle with said heat exchange elements, said motor-compressor mechanism being disposed beneath said elevated compartment, and means for admitting air from said outside air passage through an opening in the wall of said elevated compartment whereby fresh air is admitted to the air circulating means of the sub-unit in the elevated compartment.

HANS & STEINFELD. 

